VideoA picture is worth…. You know. But the newest research on social media suggests a picture is worth even more than a thousand words when it comes to strengthening your company’s brand.

Forty-four percent of respondents are more likely to engage with a brand or a product if they post a picture. Pictures have become one of the top de facto methods of sorting and understanding the vast amount of information we see every day.

Marty NoteHere is what I know for sure beyond any doubt. If I write the same story as we put on video the video wins. If I write the same story we tell mostly in pictures the pictures win. Writing isn't unimportant, but it needs a lot of visual candy to sell the reading. Even then short paragraphs, good images consistent with the story's theme and visual "teases" like pull quotes help keep your readers with you. Sell your textuals with images or else lose engagement and kiss conversion goodbye.

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent. The one most responsive to change wins in the end. Darwin's ideas are on dramatic display these days as marketing evolves faster and faster, better and better.

This Marketingland.com post shares 8 SEO "ranking signals" that won't be a surprise to anyone who knows search engine optimization. There is an interesting 2017 take on these "usual suspects" SEO ranking signals.

Posts like this always make ranking sound abstract and apart from the content you create. Not so much actually. Content is impossible to manipulate, Jack, or force round pegs into square holes. Better to do what you do well, share that passion and look for others who care about what you're doing.

Remember not all visitors are created equal. About 1% of your visitors want to help IF YOU ASK THEM. Another 9% are willing to join and support with links and shares IF YOU ASK THEM. So you can bet what our next advice is going to be - ASK FOR HELP.

We would add a user-generated content ask and award the same points currency they are mining now, but you can see the beginnings of a good ambassador program - something every website needs these days.

Read this SEO post to brush up on your "ranking factors" and never forget you aren't creating content for SEO. You create content to share passion, love and create movements others want to join. SEO is just something you do because to not do it is stupid.

Oracle Blogs Rock Great ContentOracle gets the tie between great content and selling ideas such as "social listening analytics." Oracle's blogs are full of great, relevant and spot on "new marketing" content. But there's a problem.

The messy URLs Oracle's blogs generate make sharing difficult. Just goes to show no matter how big and smart you are it helps to walk among the little people a little. Testing the ease of sharing your content across social media platforms is a great lesson to learn from Oracle's messy URLs. There are many great lessons to learn from Oracles content too.

Is your Sales Force hooked up to your content curation, blogging and tracking tool like Marketo? For most digital marketers the answer to at least one of those questions is no, and even if you are an uber-mensch at marketing auto this post still shares come cool "new to us" tool. We were surprised.

Martin (Marty) Smith's insight:

Marketing automation isn't dead it's just waiting for cool new tools like this.

Digital marketing is different. Networks create power dynamics that wrap marketing's space/time. This Curagami post connects books by Barabasi explaining how networks really work to Flash Boys by Michael Lewis since the stock market is one big ultra-fast network now.

MIT Media Lab's chair and author Joi Ito's NOWISM TED Talk where he shares the "new thinking" that led to the most successful citizen's science project ever is more than inspirational. Ito's grasp on how the e-commerce, social, and always-on Internet world is shifting informs and admonishes.

Plans don't work when the time it takes to create them also negates their conclusions and directives. Ito has the solution and that is why we summarized his important ideas in a 3 minute version of his 20 minute TED Talk on Curagami: http://www.curagami.com/five-planning-disruption-tips/

Agile, in the marketing context, means using data and analytics to continuously source promising opportunities or solutions to problems in real time, deploying tests quickly, evaluating the results, and rapidly iterating. At scale, a high-functioning agile marketing organization can run hundreds of campaigns simultaneously and multiple new ideas every week.

The truth is, many marketing organizations think they’re working in an agile way because they’ve adopted some agility principles, such as test and learn or reliance on cross-functional teams. But when you look below the surface, you quickly find they’re only partly agile, and they therefore only reap partial benefits. For example, marketing often doesn’t have the support of the legal department, IT, or finance, so approvals, back-end dependencies, or spend allocations are slow. Or their agency and technology partners aren’t aligned on the need for speed and can’t move quickly enough. Simply put: if you’re not agile all the way, then you’re not agile.

Competing With AmazonCompeting with one of the Internet's 4 horsemen is hard but not impossible. Amazon is a monster, but a monster with vulnerabilities as all monsters have. Amazon is too big to listen and care. They compete on price.

Price doesn't create love. Price is about convenience, ease of use and becoming the Walmart of the web. No one loves Walmart much and few LOVE Amazon and therein lies the rub for Small to Medium Sized Businesses as this Curagami post shares.

Did you know Amazon has several prices for the same thing almost all the time? This post teaches you how to really know what Amazon is charging for something so your prices won't be so far out of line as to appear absurd and so rejected on first inspection.

We agree AI is being used as a gimmick right now. We understand why too. Marketers and marketing love shiny new things. We tend to hop aboard before fully understanding the math.

We have left brain creatives for the most part and so such early hopping is understandable and, to some extent, what we are paid to accomplish. Artificial intelligence (AI) will revolutionize marketing and make even the most creative among us learn some new math.

We agree with the premise and recommendations here but are more kind in our evaluation of the "why" behind why fellow travelers are gimmickizing AI.

Martin (Marty) Smith's insight:

Agree but aren't as harsh since we understand why most marketers are treating AI as a gimmick - who wants to do the math?

Much like riding a bicycle blogging is harder than it looks. I thought I knew how to ride a bike until I rode 3,300 miles across America. That trip taught me there is always lots to learn.

Same is true for blogging. Our new better blogging Flipboard curates the best bloggers, tips, and tools to help any blogger publish better content. Flipboard is a cool tool since it easily allows curation of content across a broad spectrum of users. Every blogger from beginning to advanced will find helpful resources, tips and content on our Better Blogging Flipboard.

Product Fails AppleHere I was thinking I was the only one contemplating ending an almost forty year relationship. Turns out I'm not alone. My Ouch Product fails Curagami post sparked similar stories, frustrations, and decisions to buy OPP (Other People's Products). One such story assured that, after a period of learning, moving to an Android phone was BETTER.

Must Follow & Learn FromMark is a friend and digital marketing, SEO and branding teacher. If you have a need to communicate, sell, and be successful online you should follow Mark on Flipboard, read what he curates and attend one of his many talks.

Embrace The SuckVine's departure shows how precarious is the life of a startup. Even scale, lots of community and cool content isn't enough to bridge the first problem - websites costs money so how are you going to make some?

Best not to extrapolate too far as many will. Don't throw social media under the bus because of Vine's woes. Under the bus is a place others will be soon (Twitter?). On our end, the web marketing side of the equation, we must smile, nod and embrace the suck: http://www.curagami.com/social-media-death-vine/

The Big ShakeoutThe inevitable shakeout of social media marketing tools is on. Twitter's Vine is gone and it's owner is in pain. Twitter's layoffs and inability to get sold signal we've entered the BIG SHAKEOUT.

Sharing your scoops to your social media accounts is a must to distribute your curated content. Not only will it drive traffic and leads through your content, but it will help show your expertise with your followers.

Integrating your curated content to your website or blog will allow you to increase your website visitors’ engagement, boost SEO and acquire new visitors. By redirecting your social media traffic to your website, Scoop.it will also help you generate more qualified traffic and leads from your curation work.

Distributing your curated content through a newsletter is a great way to nurture and engage your email subscribers will developing your traffic and visibility.
Creating engaging newsletters with your curated content is really easy.